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First American Sister of Charity Elizabeth Bayley Seton - John Clement Reville · The American Trail Collection

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  Speaker 1: Chapter one of the First American Sister of Charity, Elizabeth
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  Speaker 1: Bailey Setan. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
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  Speaker 1: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
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  Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox dot org. The First American Sister of
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  Speaker 1: Charity Elizabeth Bailey Setan by John Clement Reveal, Chapter one,
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  Speaker 1: A Lady of Old New York. The year seventeen seventy
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  Speaker 1: four marks an epoch in the history of the United States,
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  Speaker 1: scarcely less memorable than the one which gave to the
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  Speaker 1: world the Declaration of Independence. The events of seventeen seventy
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  Speaker 1: four prepared the way for the heroic deeds of seventeen
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  Speaker 1: seventy six. The Boston Tea Party of seventeen seventy three
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  Speaker 1: had made the English government realize that the colonies must
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  Speaker 1: be cowed, or that an appeal to arms was the
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  Speaker 1: only outcome. The Intolerable Acts of seventeen seventy four attempted
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  Speaker 1: to accomplish the first purpose. One closed the port of
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  Speaker 1: Boston until the town should pay for the tea so
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  Speaker 1: summarily thrown overboard from the English ships. A second, the
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  Speaker 1: Regulating Act, remodeled the Charter of Massachusetts, and attempted to
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  Speaker 1: destroy those free institutions which were so dearly prized by
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  Speaker 1: the people. A third, the Administration of Justice Act, provided
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  Speaker 1: that any British soldier accused of murder in putting down
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  Speaker 1: riots or while enforcing the revenue laws, might be taken
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  Speaker 1: for trial to another colony or to Great Britain. A fourth,
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  Speaker 1: the Quartering Act, imposed English soldiers as unwelcome guests on
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  Speaker 1: American householders, and the fifth or Quebec Act, extended the
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  Speaker 1: boundaries of that province southward to the Ohio River. Thus,
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  Speaker 1: as the colonists claimed, ignoring the rights of Massachusetts, Connecticut,
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  Speaker 1: New York, and Virginia, and doing away within that territory
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  Speaker 1: with such cherished institutions as the popular meeting and the
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  Speaker 1: freedom of the press, the intolerable acts roused the spirit
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  Speaker 1: of the people from Virginia. In reply came the suggestion
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  Speaker 1: for a General Congress to deliberate on those measures which
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  Speaker 1: the United interests of America may from time to time require.
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  Speaker 1: At the call of Massachusetts, the First Continental Congress assembled
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  Speaker 1: at Carpenters Hall, Philadelphia, September fifth, seventeen seventy four. Fifty
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  Speaker 1: five delegates from every colony Georgia accepted answered the summons.
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  Speaker 1: Massachusetts sent John and Samuel Adams, Connecticut her Shoemaker, Statesman
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  Speaker 1: Rogers Shape German, Pennsylvania John Dickinson, New York John Jay.
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  Speaker 1: South Carolina was represented by Christopher Gadsden and John Rutledge,
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  Speaker 1: while Virginia sent Richard Henry, Lee Patrick Henry, and the
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  Speaker 1: man who was a host and a congress in himself,
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  Speaker 1: the incomparable Washington. The First Continental Congress exercised a powerful
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  Speaker 1: influence on the destinies of America. Without it, the work
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  Speaker 1: of the Second Continental Congress would never have been accomplished.
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  Speaker 1: It prepared the way for the crowning act of that body,
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  Speaker 1: the protest of an entire nation that it would no
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  Speaker 1: longer submit to tyranny. The nation has seen no more
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  Speaker 1: stirring times than those in which these great events were
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  Speaker 1: taking place. The very spirit of liberty seemed to be
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  Speaker 1: borne through the land everywhere, lighting the flame of high
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  Speaker 1: resolve in the breasts of its city. Great things were
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  Speaker 1: being done for that most sacred of all causes, after
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  Speaker 1: the cause of God himself, human freedom and progress. It
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  Speaker 1: was amidst these throes that the American Republic came into being.
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  Speaker 1: Only a few days before the First Continental Congress assembled
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  Speaker 1: at Philadelphia, a child was born whose life and example
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  Speaker 1: were to exercise a large influence on the destinies of
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  Speaker 1: the Catholic Church in the country which Washington and Jefferson
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  Speaker 1: were trying to save from tyranny. That child, Elizabeth Ann Bailey,
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  Speaker 1: was born in New York City on the twenty eighth
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  Speaker 1: of August seventeen seventy four. She is better known as
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  Speaker 1: that mother Setan whose calm and sweet image appears on
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  Speaker 1: the very first pages of the history of the Catholic
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  Speaker 1: Church in our country, reminding us of an epic age
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  Speaker 1: and epic deeds in both church and state. She was
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  Speaker 1: the second of the three daughters of a distinguished physician,
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  Speaker 1: doctor Richard Bailey, and of Catherine Charlton, his first wife.
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  Speaker 1: The Baileys and the Charltons were well known members of
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  Speaker 1: the Best Society of early New York. In the beginning
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  Speaker 1: of the struggle of the colonies with the mother country,
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  Speaker 1: the Baileys were staunch loyalists, But when the contest was
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  Speaker 1: over and the former dependencies of Great Britain became the
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  Speaker 1: free sovereign and independent United States of America. Doctor Bailey
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  Speaker 1: threw in his lot with the new Republic and became
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  Speaker 1: one of its most loyal citizens. He had left no
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  Speaker 1: doubt as to his sympathies with England during the struggle
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  Speaker 1: the war over, no one ever doubted his loyalty to
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  Speaker 1: the United States. His service as first Health Officer of
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  Speaker 1: the Port of New York, and his sympathetic and unt
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  Speaker 1: ceasing labors for the sick in the quarantine station on
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  Speaker 1: Staten Island can never be forgotten. Stirring times were those
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  Speaker 1: in which little Elizabeth Bailey played down by the battery
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  Speaker 1: where the citizens strolled to watch the ships swing up
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  Speaker 1: the harbor, or trudged to school with the little misses
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  Speaker 1: of the better class, or later on from the heights
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  Speaker 1: of Craigdon, her father in law's country house on the
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  Speaker 1: neck of land that is now forty third Street between
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  Speaker 1: Eleventh Avenue and the Hudson, looked down on that beautiful
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  Speaker 1: river and watched the ships riding at anchor. She was
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  Speaker 1: only two years old when King George's Redcoats marched into
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  Speaker 1: the city, which they held from seventeen seventy six to
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  Speaker 1: seventeen eighty three. The din of war sounded around her cradle,
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  Speaker 1: and if she slumbered peacefully while Howe and Washington were
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  Speaker 1: locked in the death struggle of Long Island, others feared
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  Speaker 1: and trembled for her. She was nine years old when
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  Speaker 1: she saw the British regiments march out from the city
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  Speaker 1: that they so long held from some window along the way,
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  Speaker 1: or held perhaps by a friendly hand, in some crowded street.
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  Speaker 1: She watched other troops marching in the ragged but indomitable
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  Speaker 1: veterans of Washington and the Great Virginian at their head.
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  Speaker 1: She saw the British flag hauled down and the stars
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  Speaker 1: and stripes flung to the breeze. The heart of the
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  Speaker 1: little maid must have felt a sensation of genuine pride
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  Speaker 1: as it was unfolded before her, and she heard thousands
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  Speaker 1: loudly hailing it as the emblem of justice and liberty.
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  Speaker 1: That year, seventeen eighty three, Elizabeth's fellow New Yorker, Washington Irving,
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  Speaker 1: was born. The child lost her mother when she was
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  Speaker 1: three years old. Her step mother, a member of that
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  Speaker 1: Barclay family whose name is perpetuated to this day in
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  Speaker 1: New York by a well known thoroughfare, was strongly attracted
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  Speaker 1: to her, and to some extent, if that be possible,
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  Speaker 1: took the place of the dead Catherine Charlton, the mother
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  Speaker 1: so early lost, but whose image still lingered in her
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  Speaker 1: daughter's heart. But good Doctor Bailey was Betty's idol, while
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  Speaker 1: the kindly physician was mother, guide, philosopher, and friend to
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  Speaker 1: his bright and attractive daughter. If Betty was sent to
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  Speaker 1: the rather formal and unprogressive schools of the metropolis, it
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  Speaker 1: was from her father that she learned most. As far
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  Speaker 1: as his duties would allow, he presided over her studies.
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  Speaker 1: His word was law. The little New Yorker liked neither
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  Speaker 1: French nor music, and independent American that she was flung
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  Speaker 1: her a music book in her grammar, aside declaring that
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  Speaker 1: she would have no such foreign importations. But doctor Bailey
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  Speaker 1: was an old fashioned father, and even Miss Elizabeth Ann
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  Speaker 1: Bailey loved, petted, and idled, though she was was not
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  Speaker 1: to be the mistress in his household. A word of
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  Speaker 1: warning soon brought the wayward little rebel back to the
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  Speaker 1: hated French and the neglected piano. A man of sterling character,
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  Speaker 1: of the highest integrity of a charity that knew no
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  Speaker 1: bounds fearless in the performance of his duties as an
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  Speaker 1: army surgeon, and in the presence of the contagious diseases
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  Speaker 1: that too often ravaged the city. Doctor Bailey had but
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  Speaker 1: one fault. He had been tainted by the false philosophy
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  Speaker 1: of the age, by the deism of Rousseau and Voltaire.
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  Speaker 1: His religion seems to have been that which too often
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  Speaker 1: rules the conduct of otherwise high minded and noble hearted
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  Speaker 1: men service to humanity. Such a religion is inadequate and unjust,
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  Speaker 1: for it looks to the present only and neglects the creator.
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  Speaker 1: Doctor Bailey's daughter seems, for a very brief moment to
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  Speaker 1: have been dazzled by the glittering sophisms of Rousseau and
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  Speaker 1: his school, but she was too deeply religious to remain
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  Speaker 1: long under that malignant spell. She was reared in an
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  Speaker 1: atmosphere of strict Episcopalianism, but her soul was naturally Catholic.
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  Speaker 1: In her innocent girlhood, and during that painful stage of
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  Speaker 1: her married life, when in a foreign land she watched
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  Speaker 1: like an angel of consolation over the last moments of
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  Speaker 1: her dying husband, we can see how deeply attached she
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  Speaker 1: was to the religion in which she was brought up.
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  Speaker 1: What unconsciously attracted her in it was that element of
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  Speaker 1: Catholicism which it still retained, belief in the divinity of
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  Speaker 1: Christ and attachment to His sacred person. Already as child
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  Speaker 1: and when growing to womanhood, she is strongly drawn to Him.
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  Speaker 1: After the Bible, which she reads on the seashore and
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  Speaker 1: in the quiet recesses of Craigdon or New Rochelle. She
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  Speaker 1: loves the imitation of Christ and tries to regulate her
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  Speaker 1: life according to its lessons. She wears a little crucifix
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  Speaker 1: over her heart. The Holy name has for her an
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  Speaker 1: irresistible charm. She bows reverently at its sacred sound. That
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  Speaker 1: distinctively Catholic doctrine that tells us that guardian spirits watch
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  Speaker 1: over our steps appeals strongly to her, and she commends
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  Speaker 1: her acts and her life to these heavenly protectors. She
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  Speaker 1: yearns to be incorporated into Christ by the participation of
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  Speaker 1: His sacred body and blood, although the Episcopal Church can
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  Speaker 1: offer her nothing else but the shadow of that life
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  Speaker 1: giving body. Even for that, she hungers and prepares with
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  Speaker 1: the greatest fervor for the reception of the empty elements
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  Speaker 1: of the bread and wine. How admirably this foreshadows the
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  Speaker 1: fervor which she will approach the altar later on in life,
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  Speaker 1: when under the sacramental species she will receive really and truly,
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  Speaker 1: and not merely in image and in shadow, the body
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  Speaker 1: and the blood of her Lord. But childhood and girlhood
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  Speaker 1: passed with thousands of her fellow citizens. Elizabeth Bailey, then
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  Speaker 1: in her fifteenth year, witnessed the inauguration in New York
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  Speaker 1: of George Washington as President of the United States. It
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  Speaker 1: was the thirtieth of April seventeen eighty nine. The inauguration
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  Speaker 1: took place at Federal Hall, on the corner of Wall
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  Speaker 1: and Broad Streets. It was noon, and the Great Virginian,
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  Speaker 1: accompanied by Chancellor Livingstone, Adams, Hamilton, Knox, Steuben, and Saint Clair,
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  Speaker 1: stepped forth on the balcony. After Livingstone had pronounced the
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  Speaker 1: oath of office, Washington kissed the Bible and solemnly swore
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  Speaker 1: to keep and safeguard the Constitution of the United States.
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  Speaker 1: The official recorder of the proceedings was Thomas Lloyd, a Catholic,
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  Speaker 1: a former student at Saint Omer under the Jesuits. Carroll
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  Speaker 1: and John Leonard Neal from the notes taken down by him,
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  Speaker 1: the address of our first President was given to the public.
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  Speaker 1: Thomas Lloyd is rightly called the father of American stenography.
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  Speaker 1: It was one of his boasts that at Saint Omer
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  Speaker 1: he had acquired not only his ability at shorthand, but
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  Speaker 1: his Republican principles. The solemnity of the scene must have
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  Speaker 1: deeply impressed the susceptible mind of the young girl. A
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  Speaker 1: crisis had come in the nation's life. One was facing her.
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  Speaker 1: It was time for Elizabeth Bailey to decide what her
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  Speaker 1: future career should be. Her social position admitted her into
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  Speaker 1: the inner circles of fashionable society. Cultured and refined, gentle
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  Speaker 1: and singularly affectionate, she united to grace of form and
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  Speaker 1: charm of manner, unusual strength of character, and that easy
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  Speaker 1: self control which she had learned from her father. She
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  Speaker 1: was rather small in statures, as one of her biographers,
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  Speaker 1: but slenderly and gracefully formed. Her face, with finely cut
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  Speaker 1: features and lit by brilliant black eyes, was framed with
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  Speaker 1: masses of dark curling hair. Her presence breathed refinement and innocence.
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  Speaker 1: She had lived through stirring and trying times. Under the
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  Speaker 1: reserve of her perfect womanliness, there were the warm heart
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  Speaker 1: and the sprightliness of a childlike nature, unconscious of evil.
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  Speaker 1: Admired and suitors came, of their going and coming and lingering.
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  Speaker 1: We have little record. The young girl was waiting for
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  Speaker 1: the man to whom, without fear or scruple, she could
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  Speaker 1: give her hand and heart and trust her happiness and
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  Speaker 1: her life. He came at last. It was William McGee Seton,
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  Speaker 1: eldest son of William Seton, a wealthy New York merchant, who,
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  Speaker 1: in his later years was cashier of the Old Bank
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  Speaker 1: of New York, of which President Roosevelt's grandfather was President.
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  Speaker 1: William McGee Seton had all that Elizabeth Bailey's heart could desire.
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  Speaker 1: The name he bore had long been famous in Scottish
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  Speaker 1: romance and story. He had wealth and social position. He
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  Speaker 1: was a refined and cultured gentleman. Miss Bailey made her
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  Speaker 1: choice calmly, deliberately, and if her heart dictated that choice,
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  Speaker 1: it was ruled and controlled by her reason and her
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  Speaker 1: faith to William Seton. She gave herself entirely in the
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  Speaker 1: bloom of her maidenhood and innocence, with a childlike and
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  Speaker 1: nobly romantic trust that never faltered. A model daughter, she
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  Speaker 1: became a model bride. The marriage of the youthful couple,
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  Speaker 1: for the bride was not yet twenty years old, took
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  Speaker 1: place in John Street, New York, the ceremony being performed
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  Speaker 1: by Doctor Probost, the Episcopalian Bishop of New York. William
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  Speaker 1: Seton carried his young wife to his father's house and
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  Speaker 1: into her new family. Elizabeth Seton came as an angel
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  Speaker 1: of comfort and joy to the shrewd and kindly old merchant.
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  Speaker 1: She came as a beloved daughter, an adviser and friend.
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  Speaker 1: The younger brothers and sisters of her husband loved her
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  Speaker 1: as a second mother. While in the eldest unmarried daughter
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  Speaker 1: of the house, Rebecca Seton, the young matron, found the
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  Speaker 1: friend of her soul. In the autumn of seventeen ninety four,
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  Speaker 1: the year that saw John Jane negotiate his famous treaty
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  Speaker 1: with England and mad Anthony Wayne deal a death blow
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  Speaker 1: to the treacherous Indians at Fallen Timbers, the young couple
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  Speaker 1: moved to number eight State Street, to a house which
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  Speaker 1: at present is the mission of our Lady of the
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  Speaker 1: Rosary for the protection of Irish immigrant girls. Here. In
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  Speaker 1: May seventeen ninety five, Elizabeth gave birth to a daughter.
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  Speaker 1: The child was named Anna Maria. Four other children subsequently
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  Speaker 1: blessed the union, William, Richard, Bailey, Catherine, and Rebecca. We
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  Speaker 1: cannot but admire the providence of God when we read
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  Speaker 1: the truly idyllic pages of this part of missus Seaton's life.
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  Speaker 1: God was working wonders in this pure and unselfish soul.
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  Speaker 1: Her husband, her children, her household duties, her father, the
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  Speaker 1: new family with which she was in daily contact, the poor,
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  Speaker 1: her domestics. These absorbed her energies and called upon all
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  Speaker 1: her love. The duties of the mother and the wife,
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  Speaker 1: the cares of the mistress of a full household, the
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  Speaker 1: works of charity she performed among the poor of the
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  Speaker 1: city were preparing the heart and the soul of the
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  Speaker 1: Elizabeth seton for her nun's life in the cloistered peace
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  Speaker 1: of Emmittsburgh. Even now, her deep faith, her love of
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  Speaker 1: her redeemer, and her longing for his presence and his
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  Speaker 1: grace in her soul, her zeal and piety were foreshadowing
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  Speaker 1: the sanctity of future days. Calmly glided the early years
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  Speaker 1: of Elizabeth Seton's married life, proud of her young husband,
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  Speaker 1: prouder if possible, of the happy brute of children that
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  Speaker 1: crowded her nursery floor. She saw no cloud on the horizon.
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  Speaker 1: Those were her sunny days, as they sauntered down to
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  Speaker 1: the battery to watch the ever changing waters of the
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  Speaker 1: changeless sea, or rested under the shade of the Kraigndun trees,
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  Speaker 1: or sailed up the noble River under the mighty ramparts
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  Speaker 1: of the Palisades. The young bride and mother little dreaming
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  Speaker 1: that there on that eminence, a few miles from the
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  Speaker 1: city of her birth and eminence then crowned with the
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  Speaker 1: banners of a noble forest, a cloistered pile would one
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  Speaker 1: day rise, and the voices of the young and of
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  Speaker 1: a thousand and more of her spiritual daughters would be
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  Speaker 1: lifted up to call her blessed. But trial comes to
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  Speaker 1: all the friends of God. By it he tests the
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  Speaker 1: vigor of their faith, the strength of their loyalty, and
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  Speaker 1: their love. It came to William Seaton's bride In June
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  Speaker 1: seventeen ninety eight, her loved father in law died. Elizabeth
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  Speaker 1: mourned over him. Over another father, a heavier blow awaited her.
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  Speaker 1: In the summer of eighteen o one, yellow fever appeared
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  Speaker 1: in New York. Doctor Bailey was at his post of
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  Speaker 1: danger as health officer of the port. He was untiring
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  Speaker 1: in his labors to stem the disease and to help
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  Speaker 1: the fever stricken. While attending to a band of Irish immigrants,
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  Speaker 1: whose marvelous faith and resignation to their wretched faith deeply
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  Speaker 1: impressed him, he was himself attacked by the contagion. The
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  Speaker 1: anguish of Elizabeth was heartbreaking. She had been her father's darling.
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  Speaker 1: He had been her idol and her playmate, her best friend.
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  Speaker 1: He was dying almost without a thought of God or
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  Speaker 1: his blessed son, the redeemer of the world. What could
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  Speaker 1: she do for him? Gladly would that incomparable daughter have
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  Speaker 1: given up her own life, that her father might not
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  Speaker 1: die without some sign of faith and repentance. Her own
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  Speaker 1: life was as nothing to such a gain, But the
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  Speaker 1: young mother had something more precious to give. Bending over
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  Speaker 1: the cradle where her little Catherine was sleeping, she lifted
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  Speaker 1: the innocent babe in her arms and offered her darling's
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  Speaker 1: life to God for the salvation of her father's soul.
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  Speaker 1: The child was spared, But when he felt the last
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  Speaker 1: moment come, doctor Bailey repeated with every sign of faith
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  Speaker 1: and love the sacred name, which Elizabeth, kneeling at his side,
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  Speaker 1: was murmuring in his ear. But still another blow was
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  Speaker 1: to fall. The death of the elder Setan had deprived
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  Speaker 1: his son of a wise and prudent guide. Young Setan
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  Speaker 1: had many ventures forth, but they that carry on their
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  Speaker 1: business in ships on the treacherous seas, or seldom safe
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  Speaker 1: from the bitter jests of fortune, the ordinary vicissitudes of commerce,
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  Speaker 1: and the war, or rather thread of war between France
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  Speaker 1: and the United stats States caused a suspension of trade
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  Speaker 1: with French ports. The Seatan firm was threatened with financial failure.
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  Speaker 1: The anxieties and worries, which were the natural results of
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  Speaker 1: these reverses, grievously affected the health of mister Setan in
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  Speaker 1: all his troubles. Elizabeth stood courageously at his side. Her
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  Speaker 1: husband's trials were hers with him. If necessary, she would
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  Speaker 1: share the most trying lot, poverty, loss of social position,
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  Speaker 1: and prestige. What was all that while they had their
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  Speaker 1: mutual love and the affection of their children. Never was
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  Speaker 1: the mother and the wife more heroic, more unselfish. Every
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  Speaker 1: social pleasure she gave up, every absolutely unnecessary expense, was
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  Speaker 1: gradually curtailed. They had lived in something like luxury. They
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  Speaker 1: now were satisfied with the lot of the poor. Not
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  Speaker 1: once did the affection, the tenderness, the buoyancy, the sole
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  Speaker 1: deep loyalty of this admirable woman fail. Her trust in
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  Speaker 1: God was the trust of the great saints of Teresa,
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus, and the Little Flower of Francis de Chantal
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: and Margaret Mary, and the Great Saint of whom, unconsciously
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: she was already the spiritual daughter Vincent de Paul. But
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: William Seton's health was shattered. To regain it was absolutely
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: necessary if he were to make good the heavy losses
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: of the last year. In his early youth, he had
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: visited Italy, and in the course of business, had become
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: acquainted with the family of merchant princes, the Felices of Leghorn.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: His physician had told the sufferer that a sea voyage
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: might restore his waning health. Time and again the Felicies
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: had offered him the hospitality of their home. It was
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: now a duty for the patient to accept the generous offer.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Resolved to make the journey, Elizabeth could not think for
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: a moment of abandoning him. Whatever his fate, she would
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: share it sickness or stormy sea, loneliness or death. When
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: she had plighted her troth to William Seton, it had
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: been no idle word nor empty ceremony. She meant to
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: fulfill it to the letter. She had made the promise
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: before God. He would give her the courage and strength
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: to carry it through. On him, she relied, and on
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: her love. Neither was to fail her. She thought it
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: wise to let her eldest child, Anta Maria, now nine
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: years old, accompany her to her Aunta Maria would be
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: a help to the suffering husband, a companion and a
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: source of joy. The preparations were made. On October second,
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: eighteen o three, the little party boarded the Shepherdess bound
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: for Lifelehorn, A Sturdian, kindly Irish seaman, Captain O'Brien, name
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: of happy omen as we shall see for Elizabeth Seton
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: commanded the little vessel. The voyage was uneventful. Six weeks
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: after the Shepherdess dropped anchor in the harbor, of Leghorn,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: end of chapter one. Chapter two of the First American
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: Sister of Charity, Elizabeth Bailey Seton by John Clement, reveal
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: this LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter two,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: The Angel of the Lazaretto to the stranger who for
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: the first time sets foot upon her shores. Italy is
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: a land of enchantment, her sunny skies, the music and
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: the laughter of her children, the treasures of art found
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: in her great cities and the humblest of her ham hamlets,
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: The monuments of bygone ages that everywhere meet the eye,
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: the ruins of her pagan shrines, the splendor of the
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: temples she has raised to the worship of the True God,
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: Her sufferings, her victories, the glory of her mountains helmeted
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: with snow, the wizardry of her valleys weave an irresistible
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: spell over the imagination and the heart. To those magic
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: shores the Shepherdess had carried William Seton and his beloved
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: wife and child. In the words of the Trojan exiles,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: well might they have exclaimed, tendimus in latium, say as
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: ubi fatta beatas ostendunt to Italy. We sail where providence
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: points out to us a peaceful, a blessed home. Yet
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth may have heard something like the echo of those
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: words that sounded in the hero's ears of old, bidding
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: him fly from an an inhospitable shore. Fu Je crudelus
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: ras fugelitus of arum. Fly, lady, fly from those cruel,
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: those deadly shores, for beautiful and kindly to others. To her,
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: that enchanting land was at first to be an abode
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: of sorrow and death. Yet the hand of God seemed
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: to guide her thither, almost in spite of herself. To Leghorn,
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: the shepherdess brought the news that yellow fever had again
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: ravaged New York. The very mention of the disease smote
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: like a funeral knell on the officials of the port.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: To make matters worse, the little American vessel anchored in
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: the roads could produce no health certificate. Its passengers therefore
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: were forbidden to land and condemned to the Lazaretto or
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: detention hospital for a well nigh interminable quarantine. On the
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: years of William seton, worn out by the long sea journey,
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: weaker even than when he had left New York shattered
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: in spirit. The sentence was a sentence of death. Elizabeth
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: and Anna Maria could scarcely check their tears, but the
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: heroic mother and the brave little daughter did not think
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: of themselves. For that dear one's sake, they endeavored to
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: hide their cruel disappointment. They had come, they thought, to
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: the land of sunshine and flowers and balmy breezes. They
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: were doomed to a prison and a tomb. But such
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: it looked when, after being rowed in a barge from
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: the ship, the three ill fated voyagers reached a canal
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: from which they heard the grinding of the lifted chains,
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: and then, passing between high stone walls and frowning peers,
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: came to the damp and cheerless quarantine station. They were
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: treated kindly by the warden and the health officers, but
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: the nature of the mysterious disease of which they might
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: perhaps be carrying the deadly germs, prevented anything like familiar
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: intercourse between the exiles and their guardians. The lives of
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: some of the greatest servants of God might well be
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: summarized in these words. Heroism in suffering, but in the
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: splendid record these great men and women have left us,
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: it might be difficult to find anything to surpass the
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: heroic constancy, magnanimity, tenderness, and love which were now displayed
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: by Elizabeth seton this magnificent type of American and Christian womanhood.
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: She was not yet the foundress of the Sisters of
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: Charity of Emmitsburg, but she was the Sister of Charity
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: and the Angel of the Lazaretto. She had not as
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: yet the full light of the truth for which she longed,
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: But there can be no doubt that one of the
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: reasons why later she was given to see the plenitude
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: of the truth was that she had never been rebellious
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: to the light, and that, as far as she knew,
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: and as far as her feeble strength would allow, she
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: had never failed in her duties as wife and mother,
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: devoted wife, jennalist of mothers. If God gave the infant
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: Church of America great models and leaders in saintly prelates
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: like Carol and Chevrou and Brute and Dubois and Dubourg,
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: it was also by a special providence that he gave
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: it a model for the womanhood of the Great Republic.
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: In this gentle but indomitable spirit. The record which Missus
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: Seton wrote of the tragic days spent with her dying
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: husband and suffering daughter in the Lazaretto of Leghorn is
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: one of the most touching and soul affecting ever written
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: by a woman's hand. It is the story of a
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: great sorrow and a great love. Simple, artless, but poignant
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: in its very simplicity, it unconsciously reveals the nobility of
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: her soul, the depth of her Christian faith, and the
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: strength of her woman's heart. On entering the lazaretto, the
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: three prisoners, for such they were had caught a hasty
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: glimpse of Antonio Filici, one of that merchant family with
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: which William Seton had long been bound by the ties
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: of the closest friendship. Antonio Filici and his brother Filippo
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: deserved the gratitude of every American Catholic. To them. Missus
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: see owed first whatever alleviation was allowed her, her suffering husband,
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: and the child in the Lazaretto. Noble hearted, gentlemen, merchant princes,
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: they used their wealth for no sordid or selfish aims.
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: They used it now for the relief of three exiles,
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: a dying husband, an agonizing wife, a little child, all
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: longing for the sunshine and the flowers, and locked in
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: a sunless tomb. Good Samaritans, they did not look merely
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: to the wine, the oil, and the lodging for the
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: welfare of the body. They thought more of the soul
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: of their suffering friends. To Antonio Felicci, Missus Seton owed
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: the beginning of her conversion. His example and his words
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: were decisive influences in her acceptance of the faith, of
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: which he was such a splendid example. The Angel of
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: the Lazaretto. Soon realized that God asked of her the
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: sacrifice of her husband's life. The chills, the fever, the
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: racking cough, the sleepless nights, the wasting frame and sunken
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: eyes of the patient told her that the end was near.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: Even with all the kindness of Antonio Felici to help her,
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: she could do but little to relieve Setan's pain, even
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: if her gentle ministrations could for a moment relieve the sufferer.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: The gloomy walls of their prison, the brick floor, the
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: wind that swept through every crevice of their cell, the
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: beating of the waves, against the rocks on the shore
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: not far away, created an atmosphere of fear and terror
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: against which it seemed impossible to fight. William Seton had
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: been a model husband, a man of spotless honor and life,
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: but like doctor Bailey, he had been but little influenced
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: by religion. One of the blessings of suffering is that
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: it turns the soul to God. The prisoner of the
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: Lazaretto moved, undoubtedly more than ever by the gentleness, the love,
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: and patience of the angel that knelt by his side,
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: murmuring his name in her prayers, that God God might
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: spare him to her love. Must have asked himself what
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: was the source of her fortitude and her love. It
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: could be none other than the religion she so conscientiously obeyed,
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: and which as a boy he had practiced with unhesitating faith,
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: and then forgotten with Elizabeth and the innocent Anna Maria.
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: Poor little Lamb, already exposed to the cruel winds of suffering,
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: he prayed again, and the sacred name fell from his lips.
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: In his suffering, he recognized the hand of God and
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: submitted to his holy will, taught by that guardian angel
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: whom God had given him for his consolation and joy.
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: He sincerely and humbly turned to him, begging pardon for
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: his sins, with filial trust in his mercy and goodness.
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: It was almost Christmas, and memories of home and the
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: loved ones left beyond the seas crowded upon the exiles.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: Only for the devotion of the philices, the great feasts
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: would have been passed in the dreary cell of the hospital.
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: Thanks no doubt to these good Samaritans, the days of
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: quarantine were slightly abridged, and though barely able to move,
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: so weak was he and so near to death, William
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: Seaton was carried to Pisa, followed by his heroic wife
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: and child. It was the nineteenth of December. Christmas day
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: had dawned, and the bells were ringing their merry peal
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: from every steeple along the Arno. When Setan opened his
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: eyes after a feverish night's rest, the watchful and unresting
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: angel wife was at his side, announcing tidings of great joy.
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: For it was the day she told him of their
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: dear Redeemer's birth, the day that opened to them the
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: gates of everlasting life. Husband, wife and child prayed together
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: two days after, Early in the morning of December twenty seventh,
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: his hand in the grasp of wife and child, William
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: Seaton quietly passed away. His last words were, my dear
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: wife and little ones, my Jesus, have mercy and receive me.
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: The trial had been severe, but fortified by her unquestioning faith,
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: her never faltering trust in God, her wifely devotion. The
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: sufferer had borne her slow martyrdom without a murmur. If
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: she trembled under the blow, her brave spirit was not broken.
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: She lifted her tear dimmed eyes to Heaven. One day
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: she would rejoin the husband of her youth. He had
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: not entirely forsaken her for Anna and the little babes
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: he had left her still remained. For them, she would
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: live and and in living for them she was but
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: carrying out his wishes and cherishing his memory. In her
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: hour of sorrow, the exiled American lady realized that she
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: had more friends in this strange land than she had
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: ever suspected. The kindly warden or captain of the Lazaretto,
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: the officers of the hospital, and the attendants who had
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: helped her in her seclusion. Gave her unmistakable signs of
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: their delicate sympathy. But the generous and kind hearted Felices
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: especially proved her staunchest friends. Under their hospitable roof and leghorn,
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: the sorrowing widow and her daughter found at last that
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: rest and comfort which, after their tragic experience they so
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: sadly needed. Elizabeth found more here for the first time, practically,
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: she was brought into intimate contact with the genuine Catholic family.
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: That noble Catholic household deserves a place of honor in
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: the memory and the heart of every Catholic in the
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: United States. It was the deeply spiritual atmosphere, the genuine
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: Catholic piety, simple, sincere, tender, which reigned in the home
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: of Antonio Filici and his brother Filippo, which at first
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: opened the eyes of Missus Setan to the beauty, the worth,
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: the real meaning of the Catholic religion. Their good example
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: was one of the deciding factors in her conversion. Later
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: on in life, when asked why she had become a Catholic,
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: she answered that she had seen in Italy the practical
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: workings of the Catholic Church. It was her commentary on
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: the words of our Lord. By their fruits, you shall
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: know them. During the few months they stayed in Leghorn
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: and in Florence with their friends, Anna fell grievously ill,
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: and then the devoted mother who tended her caught the
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: same disease. The charity, the tenderness and watchful care of
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: the Felices never failed. Missus Seton realized more and more
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: every day that her noble hearted hosts drew their charity
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: from some supernatural source. That hidden source she discovered when
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: with them in some quiet little shrine, or in the
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: wonderful churches of Florence, where men and women were not
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: ashamed to pray before their sacramental God, she attended mass,
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: or saw them receive holy communion. Her soul was naturally Catholic,
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: and it is not astonishing that when she heard the
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: sound of the little bell under her window that told
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: the passers by that the Viaticum was born to the dying,
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: she knelt and prayed that if her Lord and God
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: was really present under the white round of the host,
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: he might bless and guide her. When Antonio Uleicchi taught
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: her how to make the sign of the Cross, she
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: trembled with a sacred awe. In these few months, her
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: soul made rapid strides in the knowledge of God and
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: in holiness. To Antonio Felici and the learned and zealous
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: Irish priest, the Abbe Plunket. She exposed her doubts. Merchant
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: and priests solved them. But above all things told her
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: to pray. But from across the waters, the voices of
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: her little one seemed to be calling her. She longed
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: to press them to her heart. For the last time.
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: She knelt at her dear Setan's grave, and the Catholic,
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: already an instinct, prayed for that loved one soul. At
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: the last moment, Antonio Filici, who had for some time
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: intended to visit the United States in the interests of
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: his business affairs, decided to sail with her to their
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: dear philicies. Then mother and daughter bade a loving farewell.
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: Then the sailors cry that missus Seton loved. The long
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: and hearty yoho yoho of sturdy men straining at the
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: capstan bars sounded from the Flamingo's crew as the ship
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: spread wings to the breeze and turned her prow to
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: the west. Fifty six days after on the third of June,
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: the Flamingo brought the voyagers safely home. A little more
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: than a month after, tragic news spread dismay through New
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: York and the entire country. Alexander Hamilton, victim to the
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: absurd and sinful code of honor of the Duellist, had
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: fallen mortally wounded under the murderous pistol fire of Aaron
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: Burr on the rocky Heights of Weehawken. End of chapter
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: two Chapter three of the First American Sister of Charity
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth Bailey by John Clement reveal. This LibriVox recording is
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: in the public domain. Chapter three the Cross in Barclay Street.
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: Sorely tried and wounded, but victorious. Elizabeth Seton had returned
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: from one battlefield another, and a fiercer conflict awaited her
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: at home. A few days after she had clasped her
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: children to her heart, the friend of her soul, Rebecca Seton,
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: her sister in law, died in her arms. The blows
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: of adversity and sorrow were falling heavily upon this valiant woman.
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: Five children, whom she loved with all the tenderness of
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: a mother, were to be educated, provided for and God
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: had taken away father, husband, the elder Setan, and their
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: second father, and that prudent and unselfish Rebecca, so dearly
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: loved by her little ones, so true and kind to her.
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: Her present burdens were heavy, the future was dark and uncertain,
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: but great was her trust in God. We hear of
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: no idle complaints, of no empty murmurings. Her children absorbed
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: her time and care, and on them she lavished all
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: the treasures of her motherly affection. Now that the fortune
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: which she had hoped to leave them was greatly reduced,
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: if not entirely impaired, by her husband's death, she realized
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: more than ever that they could never face the world
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: and fight the battles of life unless their minds and
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: their hearts were trained to the highest ideals of virtue.
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: With these they might still successfully wage their battles. Without them,
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: they were already defeated before the battle began. Elizabeth Seton,
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: the Angel of the Lazaretto is a tragic figure. Elizabeth Seton,
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: widowed of the husband of her youth, as dignified in
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: her poverty, as she had been fascinating in the hour
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: of her prosperity and social triumph. Teaching her little ones
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: toiling and watching for them, sharing their pains and joys,
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: is a still more appealing picture. Yet, all the while,
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: a fierce struggle was going on in her soul, A
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: voice seemed to be calling to her. In that voice
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: there sounded echoes of the consecrated bells she had heard
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: along the banks of the Arno calling the people to mass,
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: Echoes of the prayers she had joined in under the
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: hospitable roof of the Felices, faint reminders of the words
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: heard from Antonio Filici's lips as they sat on the
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: deck of the Flamingo, and that true Christian gentleman explained
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: to her the doctrines of the Catholic Church. At times,
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: she heard the sound of the little bell of Saint
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: Peter's Church on Barkley Street, a stone's throw from Trinity
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: and Saint where she went to the Protestant service that
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: Belle was calling the few faithful Catholics, the poor, despised
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: but noble children of erran to Mass, the same mass
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: which she had heard with such deep emotion in the
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: old world. And over Saint Peter's there arose the cross,
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: silent monitor and Apostle, lifting up its message for all
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: to hear, far above the crowded streets of already busy
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: and bustling New York. The cross she had long borne
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: on her heart, But the cross over that humble church,
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: where a handful of Catholics gathered at the altar, seemed
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: to mean much more to her. Now. It had a
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: special message for her. She knew it. It was too
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: insistent not to be heard. All her life as maid
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: and wife in the peace of her father's house, at
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: the bedside of her dying husband, this noble woman had
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: made God the center of her being. That explains the
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: depth and the tenderness, the strength, and the purity of
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: her love and affection for all those with whom God
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: had linked her fate. God she meant to serve above
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: all ever she had had the most intimate sense of
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: His presence, the most compelling realization of his rights over
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: her love. She meant to serve him now, no matter
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: what the cost. But where was he to be truly
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: found in the church of her baptism, In that Episcopal church,
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: so dignified, so serene, so orderly, but so cold, so
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: unable to give her a sense of nearness to God
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: and his blessed son, or in that church represented by
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: the cross crowned edifice in Barclay Street, which she had
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: seen in Italy, so strong and so tender, and so
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: happy in the possession of that very God whom it were.
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth had read her Bible over and over. From its pages,
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: she realized what the church Christ had found it must
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: be was the Church of her baptism, the true and
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: only Church of Christ. We know from the pages of
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: another illustrious convert, the soul stirring pages of Newman's Apologia,
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: that no conflict equals in poignant agony, the struggle of
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: the seeker after religious truth, asking himself where that truth
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: is to be found, and facing the difficulties that the
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: sacrifices that must be made to follow that truth, no
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: matter over what thorny path or frowning hides it projects
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: its beams. That terrible fight raged for some time in
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: the soul of Elizabeth seton writing to a Protestant friend
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: who had alluded to her conversion. She says, I assure you,
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: my becoming a Catholic was a very very simple consequence
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: of going to a Catholic country where was impossible for
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: anyone interested in religion not to see the wide difference
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: between the first established faith, given and founded by our
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: Lord and his Apostles, and the various forms it has
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: since taken. And as I had always delighted in reading
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: the scriptures, I had so deep an impression of the
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: mysteries of divine revelation, that, though full of the sweet
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: thought that every good and well meaning soul was right,
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: I was determined when I came home, both in duty
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: to my children and my own soul, to learn all
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: I was capable of understanding on the subject. If ever
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: a soul did make a fair inquiry, our God knows
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: that mine did, and every day of life increases more
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: and more my gratitude to Him for having made me
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: what I am. It was the knowledge of the Protestant
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: doctrine with regard to faith that made me a Catholic.
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: For as soon as on inquiry I found that Episcopalians
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: did not think of everybody right, I was convinced that
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: the safe plan was to unite with the Church, in
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: which at all events they admitted that I would find salvation,
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: and where also I would be sure of the Apostolic
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: succession as well. As of the many consolations which no
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: other religion but the Catholic can afford. This passage and
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: similar ones to be found in the correspondence of Missus Seton,
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: showed that her strength and nobility of character were equaled
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: by her clear and logical intellect. She needed now all
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: the aid that it could give, and well might. She
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: thanked good Doctor Bailey for the rather stern training under
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: which she was brought up. She fought the battle of
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: truth with her own heart, with her own immediate friends
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: and family, who were soon made aware that a change
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: was taking place in her convictions. With a dear friend
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: of her earlier years, one who had been a spiritual
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: guide and to whom she was genuinely attached. An Episcopalian
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: minister of unusual attainments, the Reverend M. Hobart, who tried
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: to keep her in the church of her baptism. She
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: quietly but boldly fought the battle of truth. She was,
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: it must be confessed, in some respects not well equipped
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: for the task. Serious in thought and clear vision. She had,
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: after all, but little formal Catholic training, nor had she
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: read many Catholic books. But her heart was instinctively Catholic.
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: She wanted the truth, She prayed, She was willing, nay
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: nobly anxious, to do whatever God willed. Then she had
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: seen Catholicism at work, even from the Capitano of the Lazaretto.
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: She had learned a lesson of kindness. The example of
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: the Filicies had spoken more eloquently to her of the
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: beauty and the nobility of the faith than learned treatises
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: could do. At this very moment, Filippo Filicici was writing
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: to her to encourage her in the struggle and to
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: solve her doubts, while Antonio, during the time which he
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: could spare from his trips to other parts of the country,
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: was at her side with his cheering words, his generous aid,
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: his ever open purse, and ever the cross on Saint
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: Peter's in Barclay Street was pointing skyward, silent Apostle stern
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: spoken herald of the truth, how eloquent its warning, And
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: in that church, in the tabernacle, to which, as she
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: tells us, her eyes unconsciously turned as she sat in
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: her Puatrinity or in Saint Paul's, the God she loved
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: dwelt not in shadow, not in some vague enery energy,
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: but really, truly and substantially, the poor worshipers of Saint Peter's,
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: the humble labors of the docks and mills and warehouses
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: along the riverside, possessed him. They could hold him in
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: their hearts. She too must share their joy in their happiness.
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: Encouraging words from the saintly Chevalu in Boston, to whom
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: she had exposed her doubts from Bishop Carroll of Baltimore,
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: whom Antonio Felici had interested in his friend, showed her
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: the path she must inevitably follow if she wished to
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: please God. On the feast of the Epiphany eighteen o five,
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: she happened to read a passage from one of the
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: sermons of the saintly Bordeliou, the great Jesuit preacher, who
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: had died just a hundred years before, speaking of the
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: disappearance of the star that had led the wise men
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: on their way, and addressing those who had lost the
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: star of faith, this great master of the spiritual life says,
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: when light has been vouchsafed and then withdrawn, the memory
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: of the light must take the place of the light.
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: It suffices for us to be able to say we
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: have seen the star. There are in the church doctors
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: and priests, as there were then, men appointed to conduct you,
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: whom you have only to listen to inquire of them
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: as to your course, and they will tell you what
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: to do. The words were as a flash of heavenly light.
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: Some days after she had, in all likelihood some short
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: conferences with the Reverend Matthew O'Brien, then pastor of Saint Peter's,
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: who found her well grounded in the truths of faith.
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: On ash Wednesday, eighteen o five, in the presence of
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: Antonio Felici, the seeker after Truth had reached the gold
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: for the first time she entered Saint Peter's. It was
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: home at last and the peace of God. The altar
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: rails were crowded, and the faithful were receiving the ashes.
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: The first words she heard told of her human frailty
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: and the grave memento homo quiapulvises and in pulverem reverteris
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: remember man, that thou art dust, and into dust thou
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: shalt return. Elizabeth heard and was not afraid. She had
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: faced death once for a husband's love, she would face
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: it now a hundred times for the love of God,
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: and as she lifted her eyes above the tabernacle, she
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: saw Vallejo's painting of the Crucifixion. Her God had died
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: for her. As they rested on the tabernacle, she knew
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: that her God was living there for her and wanted
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: her love. She gave it to him without reserve. A
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: few moments later she had made her profession of faith
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: in the hands of the pastor and in the presence
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: of Antonio Filicici. On the feast of the Annunciation. After
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: her first confession, she made her first communion, and a
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: peace beyond telling flooded her soul. No other comment can
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: be made on this solemn event than the one which
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth herself makes in a letter to Ammabilia Filici, Antonio's wife,
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: I am his and he is mine. Elizabeth needed these
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: heavenly consolations. Once a Catholic, she lost caste with her relations.
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: Doors hitherto open to her were now closed. For the moment,
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: social standing and prestige were lost. Poverty was facing her.
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: To ward it off from her children. For herself, she
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: cared little. She had to open a little school in
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: Stuyvesant's Lane Bowery, near Saint Mark's Church, but at a
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: time when anti Catholic riots were taking place in Augustus
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: Street now City Hall Place, and Mayor de wit Clinton
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: was obliged to issue a proclamation to protect the lives
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: and property of Catholics. It is not astonishing that the
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: venture should be a failure, but God never leaves his
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: servants quite helpless. Before the storm. Generous friends Elizabeth found
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: in the family of James Barry, a rich and noble
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: hearted Irish merchant, and Bishop Carroll, the champion of every
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: form of helplessness. And in those saintly priests who laid
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: the foundation of the Catholic Church in the United States, Tisseront, Seboud, Matillon, Chevalu,
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: Dubois and Dubourg. The filices never failed her, and thanks
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: to an annuity of six hundred dollars which they had
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: set missus Seaton was enabled to face the crisis. The
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: noble brothers of Leghorn wished even that she should make
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: her home with them, but she had gratefully to decline.
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: The future might be dark, but with her trust in God,
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: she knew that her paths would be made smooth. When
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: she knelt before Bishop Carrol to receive the soldier's sacrament
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: of confirmation, and then listened to his words of advice
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: and comfort. It was as if a great burden had
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: been lifted from her shoulders. Another sturdy pioneer of the
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: faith in the newly born Republic, Father du Bourg, Superior
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: of Saint Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, realizing that for the present
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: New York was barren ground for the task which God intended,
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: told her of a work calling for generous hearts and
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: sturdy hands. Baltimore had no school for Catholic girls. Why
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: would she not attempt to open one? The words were
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: a revelation. Elizabeth did not hesitate, especially when the plan
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: had received the emphatic endorsement of Bishop Carrol, of Fathers
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: Matillon and Chevrou. With her two boys safely placed in
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: Georgetown College, the dauntless woman bade farewell to the city
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: she loved, to the friends of childhood, to the house
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: in which she had spent so many happy days with
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: her father, her husband, and her beloved Rebecca. The parting
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: must have been painful, for hers was an affectionate and
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: loving nature. In June eighteen o eight, in company with
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: her daughters, Anna, the Little Fairy of the Lazaretto. With
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: Rebecca and Catherine, she sailed on the Packet Grand Sachem
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: for Baltimore. After a seven days journey. In the year
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: that followed their record making voyage from New York to
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: Albany of Robert Fulton's steam driven Claremont, they arrived in
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: the metropolis of Maryland. It was June sixteenth, eighteen o eight,
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: the Feast of Corpus Christi. That day marks an epoch
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: in the history of the Catholic Church in the United States.
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: End of chapter three, Chapter four of the First American
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: Sister of Charity, Elizabeth Bailey, seton by John Clement, reveal
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: this LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter four,
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: The Lilies of the Valley. The house on Paka Street,
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: where Missus Seaton opened her school, may well be compared
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: to one of those resting places mentioned in the history
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: of the Hebrew people on their long journey from the
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: House of Bondage to the Promised Land. Like the Chosen people,
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: she was not to terry long, for it was but
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: a halt on the journey towards the goal. Yet great
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: things were done there. It was her Noviciate, both as
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: a religious and as a teacher. The atmosphere of the city,
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: where John Carroll was undoubtedly the most important figure, and
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: where Catholics were numerous and prominent in every walk of life,
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: was quite different from that of New York, where Catholics
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: were few and where they did not have the prestige
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: of possessing among them such a commanding figure as the
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: illustrious Shepherd of Baltimore. The exile was welcomed by Catholics
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 1: and Protestants alike with true Southern hospitality. The little school
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: soon had all that its narrow limits could hold, and
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: its teachers supervised. These were missus Seaton herself, her bright
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: and faithful Anna, and Miss Cecilia o'conway, the daughter of
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: an eccentric but learned Irish schoolmaster, Matthias I. James o'conway, philologist,
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: lexicographer and interpreter of languages, as he styled himself, who
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: was well known in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia in the beginning
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: of the nineteenth century. The brave Father himself brought his
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: daughter to Baltimore and offered her to Elizabeth Providence had
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: despoiled the schoolmistress of Paka street of money and wealth.
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: It made her rich in friends who never forgot her.
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: Even now, Antonio and Filippo Filici were watching over their
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: American sister's temporal welfare, just as they had formerly been
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: so solicitous for her spiritual good. At this moment, God
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: sent Elizabeth the generous help of one whose name should
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: also be remembered by American Catholics. Mister Samuel Cooper, a
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: convert from an old Virginia family and then studying for
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: the priesthood in Saint Mary's Seminary. Mister Cooper had some
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: fortune and was anxious to spend it in behalf of
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: Christian education. The valiant woman of Pakistreet asked herself, in
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: the silence of her heart, whether the fervent convert might
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: not be willing to help in the works she yearned
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: to begin without any previous arrangement. Both spoke of the
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: matter to Father Dubourg. After a month during which the
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 1: zealous priest and the two souls whom he directed had
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: commended their plans to God, it was decided that a
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 1: larger field should be found for the work. Yielding to
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: mister Cooper's wise advice, the House on Pakis Street was
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: to be abandoned, and the community over which Missus Seaton
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: presided for her household really deserved. That name was to
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: be transferred to a piece of property known as the
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: Fleming Farm, bought by mister Cooper at Emmittsburg, a village
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: about fifty miles northwest of Baltimore. The words of wisdom
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: were being fulfilled in our heroine and in those through
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: whom she was accomplishing her task. She hath considered a
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: field and bought it wisdom twenty one sixteen. Verily, in
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: the words of the same Holy Book which follow her
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: traffic was good. Her lamp shall not be put out
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: in the night. The ladies in the House on Pakistry
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: were religious in all but the name. Their number had
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: been increased by the arrival of Maria Murphy, niece of
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: the illustrious Matthew Carey, the first publisher of the Due
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: Bible in the United States, champion of Irish writes in,
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 1: one of the ablest publicists of the time. Then Mary
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: Anne Butler and Susan Classey arrived from New York and
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: joined the Little Band. They were soon followed by Rose
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: White and Catherine Mullen. Then some time before for the
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 1: departure for Emmittsburgh, came Cecilia and Harriet, seton, sisters of
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: William McGee, Saton and dearer to the heart of Elizabeth
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: than words can tell, the first already a Catholic, the
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: second soon to follow her sister into the fold. The
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: first American sister of Charity had made her no visiou.
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: The dress she and her companions wore marked them off
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: as consecrated to God. The life she led, the life
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: of prayer, abnegation, often of downright suffering and want, but
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: always of deepest trust and union with God, had more
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 1: and more cleansed. Her heart, already purified by the sufferings
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: of the Lazaretto, by the estrangement showed her by her
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: loved ones in the hour of her conversion, by the
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: death of her nearest and dearest, it made her ready
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: for the sacrifice she was now going to offer to God.
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: A more formal consecration of herself se seemed to be needed,
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 1: so in the presence of Bishop Carroll and the few priests,
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: she was admitted to pronounce the simple vows of poverty, chastity,
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: and obedience. These vows bound her only for the space
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: of one year, but could be renewed when that term expired.
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: Her heart overflowed with joy, but she could not look
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: upon the honor thus conferred upon her without a sentiment
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: of deep humility and almost of fear. Her vows made
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: her in a still more formal manner than before, the
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 1: superior of her little community. The task terrified her. On
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: the very evening of the day, when she had pronounced them,
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 1: she fell upon her knees, in the presence of her sisters,
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 1: openly acknowledged her sins and exclaimed, how can I teach
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: others who know so little of myself and am so
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: miserable and imperfect. Her sister's mingle their tears with hers,
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: but they were tears of admiration and love. The time
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: for the exodus to Emmitsburg had come. The noble hearted
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 1: father Dubois, superior of Mount Saint Mary's College, close to
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: the sister's new home, had a house ready for their coming.
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: Although they lacked every comfort, almost every necessity in this
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 1: apostle one day to become Bishop of New York, Mother
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 1: seton and her children found a father and a guide.
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 1: He was the friend of Lafayette, a future president of
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: the United States. James Monroe had given him hospitality in
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: his Virginia home, and Patrick Henry, the American Demosthenes, had
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 1: taught him English. The aristocratic Society of Virginia pronounced John
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 1: Dubois the most cultured and refined gentleman in the United States.
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: The poor and the suffering, as well as great men
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: like chevrou And and Carol, reverenced and loved him as
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: a priest after God's own heart. Mother Setan could find
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: no better spiritual director for her household. Divided into groups,
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: Mother Setan, her beloved Anna Harriet and Cecilia Seton, and
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 1: Cecilia o'conway pioneered the way. The community had made the
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: long journey of fifty miles from Baltimore to the valley,
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: which was to be their permanent home. The exodus began
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: on June twenty first, eighteen o nine. The stone house
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 1: on the Fleming Farm soon had its first Mass, said
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 1: by Father du Bourg on the thirty first of July,
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: the Feast of Saint Ignatius. There were by this time
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 1: ten sisters in the community. The names of these dauntless
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 1: pioneers and brides of Christ. Among the first of our
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: American womanhood to give themselves to God in religion, deserved
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 1: to be remembered. Elizabeth Bailey, Cecilia o'cnway, Maria Murphy, Maria Burke,
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 1: Suzanne Clossy, Mary Anne Butler, Rose White, Catherine Mollen, Sarah Thompson,
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: and Helen Thompson. The fairest lilies were they that grew
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 1: in Saint Joseph's Valley, green walled by the hills of Maryland,
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: Nature had prepared them a dwelling place. The little village
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: near which their convent home was slowly growing, slumbered quietly
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 1: between the upper stream of the Monocacy and the Catoctin
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 1: ridge of the South Mountain. In her Beautiful Life of
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 1: Mother Setan, Madame de Barbaret as Well described the scene.
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: The travelers had come to the valley when nature wore
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 1: its loveliest hues, when the freshness of spring still lingered
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 1: and blended with summer's early bloom. The delicate, pink and
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: snowy blossoms of the apple and cherry trees had vanished,
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: but the boughs of the cherry trees were loaded with
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: fruit that glowed like rubies. Beneath flamed the scarlet Virginia strawberry,
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 1: growing in riotous profusion among the moss and the sordid ferns.
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: The hedges were bright with roses, the superb beauty of
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 1: the rhododendron, the white and yellow azaleas, the trailing clusters
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 1: of the jasmine scarlet flowers, the white trumpet shaped blooms
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 1: of the convolvulus, the sassafras, whose tiny fruit dangled like
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 1: a ball of jet from a coral thread. Similacs and
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: flocks and begonia everywhere dazzled the eye made Elizabeth think
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: of the gardens of Florence, for over them bent a
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 1: sky as blue as italyes, while through thicket and wood
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 1: darted like a flame, the cardinal bird and the mocking birds.
• 1:09:52
  Speaker 1: Deceptive and polyglot symphonies fell upon the ear. This was home,
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 1: This was sacred ground, to this cloistered solitude. God had
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 1: called Elizabeth and her spiritual children. Here they would rest
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 1: and find peace for twelve years. She was to be
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 1: the lady of the valley, the mistress of this calm abode,
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 1: the guide, the mother of all who dwelt in this oasis,
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 1: far from the turmoil and passions of the world of
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 1: that world and its doings little filtered into the solitude
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 1: of Saint Joseph's valley. When the school was ready, children came,
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 1: and at the end of eighteen ten the boarders alone
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 1: numbered over fifty. Between their scholastic duties and their religious exercises,
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 1: the sister's life was divided. They heard of great wars
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 1: desolating Europe, of the power and conquest of Napoleon, of
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 1: the captivity of the saintly Pious the Seventh, and they
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: prayed for the return of peace and the triumph of justice.
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 1: Such events as the inauguration of James Madison as President,
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: our disasters and successes in the War of eighteen twelve,
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 1: the burning of Washington, our skill and gallantry on the
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 1: seas and on the lakes, the victory of Andrew Jackson
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 1: at New Orleans, after which at the entrance of the cathedral,
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 1: Father du Borg crowned the victor's brow with laurel. The
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 1: election of James Monroe to the presidency. These tidings reached,
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: of course, the secluded valley of Saint Joseph, and filled
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 1: the heart of Mother Seatan in her community with joy
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 1: for our triumphs, with sorrow for our disasters. They were
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 1: sisters of charity, and they loved the great country, where
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 1: in freedom and peace, and honored of all they were
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 1: trying to serve God and help their neighbor. But the world,
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 1: in its ways little affected their lives. Indirectly, though most efficaciously.
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 1: They were toiling for its betterment, in the cause of
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 1: sound in Christian education, and by their sanctity and unselfishness
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 1: in their secluded dell. The lilies lifted their white flowers
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 1: to the sunshine and the dews of heaven, little disturbed
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: by the storm that in other parts of the world
• 1:12:16
  Speaker 1: swept by bending the proudest heads beneath the gale. In
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 1: the spring of eighteen ten, the Apostle of Kentucky, Benedict Flanget,
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: Bishop elect of Bardstown, sailed from Bordeaux for the United States. Twice.
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 1: The ship that bore him was stopped by English cruisers.
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 1: When their commanders learned who the distinguished Frenchman was, they
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: courteously let him pass. It is quite likely that it
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 1: was only to men like him to Chevrou or Dubois
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 1: or Dubourg, the fame of whose apostolic labors had gone abroad.
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: That England then impressing our seamen would have accorded that
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 1: Honor Bishop Flanget bore a precious document, a copy of
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 1: the Constitution of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 1: de Paul. This constitution Mother Seton and her daughters were
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 1: anxious to know and understand, for they thought that the
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 1: spirit of Vincent de Paul, so broad, so human, so kindly,
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: so christ like, so full of the simplicity of the Gospel,
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 1: would suit the needs and ideals of the young Republic
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 1: of the West, and satisfy the head and the heart
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 1: of the daughters of the sturdy democracy of the United States.
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 1: They were not mistaken. With some slight changes. Endorsed and
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 1: approved by the prudent and far seeing Archbishop Carol, the
• 1:13:43
  Speaker 1: Constitution was adopted by the community. It was an inspiration
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: which the Daughters of Saint Vincent have never regretted, and
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 1: for which the Catholics of America must ever be profoundly grateful.
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 1: The finger of God was evident in its adoption. His
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 1: grace has for one hundred years been everywhere manifest in
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 1: the fidelity and the love with which the Daughters of
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 1: Mother Setan have followed Saint Vincent's Constitution. There was a
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 1: constitution then to observe. It was not hard to find
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 1: a leader, in spite of some difficulties connected with the
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 1: necessary care which Mother Setan had to bestow on her children.
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 1: At the election of officers of the new Community and
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 1: Congregation held in eighteen twelve, she was unanimously chosen Superiorists.
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: She kept that post for three terms until her death
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 1: in eighteen twenty one. While she lived, her daughters could
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 1: think of no other mother. The same election made Rose
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 1: White assistant, Mother, Katherine Mollan Treasurer a splendid sinecure for
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 1: the money box was empty, and Anna Gruber Procuratrix. A
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 1: year was fixed for the trial of the new constitution.
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: The limit prescribed passed. Eighteen sisters pronounced the simple vows
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: of religion. To the names already familiar to us, we
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 1: must now add those of Elizabeth Boyle, Angela Brady, Adele, Salva,
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 1: Louise Rogett, Margaret George, Martina Quinn, Fannie Jordan, Teresa Conway,
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 1: and Julia Shirk. Their vole day was the nineteenth of
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 1: July eighteen thirteen, the feast of their patron and patriarch
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 1: Saint Vincent de Paul. A week later, a regular Novisia
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 1: was established, with sister Catherine Mullen as mistress of novices.
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: The lilies of the valley were in full bloom, not
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 1: all for like flowers bending under heavy showers. Harriet seton
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: her sister Cecilia, both so dearly loved of Mother Setan,
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 1: and lastly her darling Anna, now by her hiles, doubly
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: her child had dropped to earth and were sleeping quietly
• 1:16:05
  Speaker 1: in their humble graves. Over Harriet and Cecilia. Elizabeth deeply mourned.
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 1: But when Anna, whose exquisite beauty was but the outward
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 1: sign of the angelic purity of her soul, her mother's
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 1: pride and joy, her helpmate and comforter in the dark
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 1: days of the Lazaretto, was taken away, she was like Rachel,
• 1:16:28
  Speaker 1: mourning over her dead. But the saintly Simon Gabriel Brute
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 1: had prepared Anna for that eternity with God for which
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 1: she longed. He comforted the mother Anna sisters Rebecca and
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 1: Catherine had joined their innocent voices when on her deathbed,
• 1:16:47
  Speaker 1: Anna had asked them to sing her favorite hymn, Mother
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 1: Setan had knelt near them and pressed the crucifix to
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 1: the lips of her dying child, while Father Brute's priestly
• 1:16:59
  Speaker 1: hand was lifted in a parting blessing over what seemed
• 1:17:02
  Speaker 1: to be the form of some celestial being that had
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 1: strayed from paradise. At her darling's grave, the mother had
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 1: but the strength to murmur the words, Father, thy will
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 1: be done. End of chapter four. Chapter five of the
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 1: First American Sister of Charity, Elizabeth Bailey Seton by John
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 1: Clement reveal. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 1: Chapter five, The Fruit of her Hands. It is no
• 1:17:41
  Speaker 1: difficult task to analyze the character and sanctity of Mother Setan.
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: Her character was as transparent as crystal, marked by directness, simplicity, tenderness,
• 1:17:53
  Speaker 1: nobility and strength. It was frank, open, cordial, sincere concealed
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 1: by a refinement and charm of manner that won all hearts,
• 1:18:05
  Speaker 1: those of her husband and children, of the little ones
• 1:18:08
  Speaker 1: under her care, the sisters of her community, the filices
• 1:18:13
  Speaker 1: and saintly men like Carol Dubois, Chevrou and Brute, whom
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 1: God gave her as directors and guides. She was a
• 1:18:22
  Speaker 1: woman well fitted to become the model of Catholic American womanhood.
• 1:18:27
  Speaker 1: Made perfect in many things. She can be proposed as
• 1:18:31
  Speaker 1: a pattern to maid, mother, wife and widow, to teacher
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 1: and religious. She knew what it is to be tenderly loved.
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 1: She felt the heavy burden of her friend's forgetfulness and
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 1: disdain to her children, her husband, and her friends. She
• 1:18:49
  Speaker 1: was devotedly attached for her affections were as strong as
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: they were pure. Though she walked through life by her
• 1:18:58
  Speaker 1: loved one's open graves, she never lost her trust and
• 1:19:02
  Speaker 1: faith in God. In every stage of her life. She
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 1: had made duty her watchword. In that duty, she never failed.
• 1:19:12
  Speaker 1: Her naturally beautiful character was spiritualized and supernaturalized by prayer
• 1:19:17
  Speaker 1: and union with God. As an Episcopalian, she had longed
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 1: to be united with Christ. As a Catholic and a religious,
• 1:19:26
  Speaker 1: she centered her life around the altar of her Eucharistic God,
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 1: in holy communion, in Holy Mass. She found her strength
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 1: and her greatest happiness when those patriarchs of the Catholic
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 1: Church in America Brute or Duborg or Dubois, offered the
• 1:19:45
  Speaker 1: Great Sacrifice in the Little Chapel in the Valley and
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 1: mother Setan, with Cecilia and Harriet and Anna at her side,
• 1:19:53
  Speaker 1: followed by her spiritual daughters, approached the Holy table. The
• 1:19:57
  Speaker 1: beholder forgot that they were living in the New world,
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 1: and imagined that they were summoned back to the early
• 1:20:04
  Speaker 1: days of Christianity. So fervent and so pure did the
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 1: sisters appear deeply pious, she was thoroughly mortified. The Cross,
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 1: she knew, was both the symbol and the summary of
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: the Gospel. Self abnegation was its first law. So she
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 1: was mistress of herself, of her heart and its affections.
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 1: Unselfishness had been her distinguishing mark in the world. It
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 1: stamped still more distinctively her whole life in religion. Had
• 1:20:38
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth Seton died as the wife of William McGee Seton,
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 1: she well might have uttered the words which the world's
• 1:20:45
  Speaker 1: greatest dramatists put on the lips of the dying Catherine
• 1:20:49
  Speaker 1: of Aragon, cover me with maiden flowers, that all the
• 1:20:53
  Speaker 1: world may know I died a chaste wife. What might
• 1:20:57
  Speaker 1: not be said of the innocence and pure of her life?
• 1:21:01
  Speaker 1: In the cloister guide of others, and invested with authority
• 1:21:05
  Speaker 1: over them, she had first learned to obey. Not once
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 1: in her life as a Catholic do we find her
• 1:21:13
  Speaker 1: judgment or her will in opposition to the commands or
• 1:21:17
  Speaker 1: suggestions of her superiors or spiritual guides. With a childlike simplicity,
• 1:21:23
  Speaker 1: she yielded herself to their wise direction. Yet she was
• 1:21:28
  Speaker 1: a woman of unusual strength of character, Like the valiant
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 1: woman of the Proverbs. She put out her hand to
• 1:21:35
  Speaker 1: strong things, and her fingers took hold of the spindle.
• 1:21:39
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth was an indefatigable worker in the cause of education,
• 1:21:44
  Speaker 1: in the cause of the poor, in the interests of God.
• 1:21:48
  Speaker 1: Under the guidance of the far seeing men whom Providence
• 1:21:52
  Speaker 1: sent her with such clearly marked design, she realized that
• 1:21:56
  Speaker 1: a Christian education was the chief need of her time.
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 1: Times of formal pedagogy, she knew little, perhaps, but she
• 1:22:05
  Speaker 1: had known the joys and the responsibilities of motherhood. She
• 1:22:09
  Speaker 1: understood children and loved them. Sympathy, kindness, gentleness marked her
• 1:22:15
  Speaker 1: dealing with them. Like her own children. All children loved
• 1:22:20
  Speaker 1: her and knew that in her they had a second mother.
• 1:22:24
  Speaker 1: She had once known the stress of poverty. The poor
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 1: were her friends, her daughters. Whether they wear the white
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 1: cornet of Emmittsburgh, or the darker head dress of Mount
• 1:22:35
  Speaker 1: Saint Vincent On Hudson, or its fair daughters, Mount Saint Vincent,
• 1:22:40
  Speaker 1: Halifax and Madison, New Jersey, whether they belonged to the
• 1:22:45
  Speaker 1: Cincinnati or the Greensburg, Pennsylvania foundations, are ever welcome and
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 1: honored visitors among the lowly and the poor, in the
• 1:22:53
  Speaker 1: homes of suffering and want. Like the valiant woman described
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 1: by the Sacred writer, Mother Seton opened her hand to
• 1:23:02
  Speaker 1: the needy and stretched out her hands to the poor.
• 1:23:06
  Speaker 1: In eighteen fourteen, almost at the very moment in that
• 1:23:10
  Speaker 1: year when Washington was sacked, the capital burnt by the British,
• 1:23:15
  Speaker 1: and an English fleet under Admiral Cockburn was ruthlessly harrying
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 1: the shores of the Chesapeake, while mid the Rocket's Red Glare,
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 1: Francis Scott Key was writing The Star Spangled Banner. On
• 1:23:28
  Speaker 1: the request of Bishop Egan of Philadelphia, she sent Sister
• 1:23:32
  Speaker 1: Rose White to take charge of the orphan asylum in
• 1:23:35
  Speaker 1: that city. It was the first mission of the Sisters
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 1: of Charity in the United States. Their first labors were
• 1:23:44
  Speaker 1: for the outcast. In eighteen seventeen, Bishop Conley of New
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 1: York hearing of the noble work done by the little
• 1:23:52
  Speaker 1: Philadelphia community, earnestly begged the superior of Emmitsburg to come
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 1: to the help of the abandoned children of her own
• 1:24:00
  Speaker 1: native city. It was a request that could not be denied.
• 1:24:05
  Speaker 1: The zealous Sister White, whose executive ability was remarkable, was
• 1:24:10
  Speaker 1: detailed for the work. She and her two companions, Sister
• 1:24:15
  Speaker 1: Cecilia o'conway and Sister Felicia T. Brady, arrived in New
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 1: York on June twenty third, eighteen seventeen, and immediately began
• 1:24:25
  Speaker 1: their work in a humble frame house in Mott Street.
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 1: Here they laid the cornerstone of a mighty edifice, the
• 1:24:32
  Speaker 1: splendor and beauty of which these humble workers did not dareforeesee.
• 1:24:37
  Speaker 1: One hundred years ago, Mother Seton's daughters had but one
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 1: house in her native city. They now count their thirty
• 1:24:44
  Speaker 1: five convents, forty nine parochial schools, fourteen academies and high schools,
• 1:24:51
  Speaker 1: one vocational school, six child caring institutions, four hospitals, one
• 1:24:58
  Speaker 1: home for the aged, and in one college. They are
• 1:25:02
  Speaker 1: seen in the Magic City on the Hudson, doing God's work,
• 1:25:05
  Speaker 1: whatever it be. From the streets through which Elizabeth strolled
• 1:25:10
  Speaker 1: as a child, almost from the battery she knew so
• 1:25:13
  Speaker 1: well to the woods fifteen miles away, where the gray
• 1:25:17
  Speaker 1: Norman towers of font Hill and the massive pile of
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 1: Mount Saint Vincent on the Hudson overlooked the river, and
• 1:25:24
  Speaker 1: eloquently speak of the magnitude and the growth of a
• 1:25:28
  Speaker 1: work which was evidently the work of God, for He
• 1:25:31
  Speaker 1: has singularly blessed its every stage. Another pen we hope
• 1:25:37
  Speaker 1: will describe more fully the growth of the work of
• 1:25:40
  Speaker 1: the Sisters of Charity in New York. That work received
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 1: an extraordinary impulse in eighteen forty six, at the time
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 1: when the Emmettsburgh community was making plans to be affiliated
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 1: to the French Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul,
• 1:25:56
  Speaker 1: to adopt their dress and their rule. On the request
• 1:26:00
  Speaker 1: of Bishop Hughes of New York, who wanted the Sisters
• 1:26:03
  Speaker 1: in his diocese to take charge of schools and asylums
• 1:26:07
  Speaker 1: for boys, the New York Sisters, with full ecclesiastical sanction,
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 1: formed a second mother house that now known as Mount
• 1:26:17
  Speaker 1: Saint Vincent on Hudson. Its first superior was Elizabeth Doyle
• 1:26:22
  Speaker 1: in whom the spirit of the Foundress lived anew. The
• 1:26:26
  Speaker 1: fruit of Mother Seaton's hands had now grown to maturity.
• 1:26:30
  Speaker 1: The hands themselves were drooping with fatigue. They had toiled
• 1:26:35
  Speaker 1: unselfishly and unremittingly at every task God had confided to them.
• 1:26:40
  Speaker 1: Great joy had come to the Foundress in the success
• 1:26:43
  Speaker 1: of her work in the Valley and in the missions
• 1:26:46
  Speaker 1: of New York and Philadelphia. Sorrow was not wanting now
• 1:26:51
  Speaker 1: her beloved friend Rebecca was taken away from her by
• 1:26:55
  Speaker 1: a premature death. Filippo Filicci had gone to his reward.
• 1:27:00
  Speaker 1: While all Baltimore, the Catholic Church in the United States,
• 1:27:04
  Speaker 1: and the Holy Father in Rome had mourned over the
• 1:27:07
  Speaker 1: death of Archbishop Carroll, she could never dream that her nephew,
• 1:27:12
  Speaker 1: James Roosevelt Bailey, born in eighteen fourteen, the year before
• 1:27:17
  Speaker 1: John Carroll's death, would be one of his successors in
• 1:27:21
  Speaker 1: his arch episcopal see. Never strong, worn out by her
• 1:27:26
  Speaker 1: austerities and labor, Mother Seton became so ill in the
• 1:27:30
  Speaker 1: autumn of eighteen twenty that it was thought she would
• 1:27:34
  Speaker 1: die of death. She was not afraid, and she calmly
• 1:27:37
  Speaker 1: prepared for the last summons. Her days of sickness were
• 1:27:41
  Speaker 1: one long meditation and prayer. Her memory was a storehouse
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 1: of holy and pious thoughts. It was not difficult for
• 1:27:50
  Speaker 1: her to commune with God then, for she had ever
• 1:27:53
  Speaker 1: been most fervent in meditation and prayer. Her children, who
• 1:27:57
  Speaker 1: now realized that they would soon lose her, showed her
• 1:28:01
  Speaker 1: how deeply they loved her. Every care and attention that
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 1: affection could lavish was given to the patient. They read
• 1:28:09
  Speaker 1: to her the books she prized, passages from the life
• 1:28:13
  Speaker 1: of Saint Vincent de Paul and Mademoiselle le Gras, now
• 1:28:17
  Speaker 1: known as Blessed Louise de Marilac, his spiritual daughter, from
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 1: the meditations of Father de Ponte, works which she herself
• 1:28:26
  Speaker 1: had translated with unusual care and elegance from the French.
• 1:28:32
  Speaker 1: They prayed with her. With her, they were preparing for death.
• 1:28:36
  Speaker 1: For the last lesson this valiant woman taught her children
• 1:28:40
  Speaker 1: was how a Christian and a religious should die. Her daughter, Catherine,
• 1:28:46
  Speaker 1: one day to become a holy sister of mercy, never
• 1:28:49
  Speaker 1: left her mother's side. The last scenes that took place
• 1:28:53
  Speaker 1: between them were marked by such pathos, such faith and
• 1:28:57
  Speaker 1: resignation to God's holy will as to cause all that
• 1:29:01
  Speaker 1: witnessed them the holiest emotions to William seton then at
• 1:29:06
  Speaker 1: sea as an officer on the U S. S. Macedonian,
• 1:29:10
  Speaker 1: returning from a lengthy cruise. Her mother's heart turned with yearning,
• 1:29:15
  Speaker 1: for she knew that she would never again press him
• 1:29:18
  Speaker 1: in her arms. Winter came and the patient grew weaker
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 1: every day. The long nights reminded her of eternity. She
• 1:29:28
  Speaker 1: yearned to pass it with God. But with her deep humility,
• 1:29:32
  Speaker 1: she feared the judgment seat of an all just judge.
• 1:29:36
  Speaker 1: But her friends in spiritual guides, Father's Brute and Dubois,
• 1:29:41
  Speaker 1: reminded her of God's mercy. She had known it too
• 1:29:45
  Speaker 1: well to doubt their words. Her heart thanked him once
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 1: more for all his fatherly tenderness, and above all, for
• 1:29:54
  Speaker 1: having brought her, in spite of her unworthiness, into the
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 1: bosom of the True Church. On December thirty first, nineteen twenty,
• 1:30:03
  Speaker 1: she was able to receive Holy Communion. It was the
• 1:30:07
  Speaker 1: last time she was privileged to receive her Eucharistic Lord.
• 1:30:12
  Speaker 1: On the second of January, Father dubas a ministered extreme
• 1:30:16
  Speaker 1: unction through their binding tears, Her beloved Catherine and her
• 1:30:22
  Speaker 1: spiritual daughters could only see her face transfigured with faith
• 1:30:27
  Speaker 1: and love. Too weak to address her children, she begged
• 1:30:30
  Speaker 1: Father du Bois, who was deeply moved, to ask her
• 1:30:34
  Speaker 1: sisters to forgive her the scandal she might have caused,
• 1:30:38
  Speaker 1: and begged them to be true children of the church
• 1:30:41
  Speaker 1: and to love and keep their rules and holy vows.
• 1:30:45
  Speaker 1: It was as simple but a sublime testament. She asked
• 1:30:49
  Speaker 1: one of her sisters to recite her favorite prayer, the
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 1: Anima Christi, two days after, early in the morning of Thursday,
• 1:30:58
  Speaker 1: January fourth, with her crucifix pressed to her lips and
• 1:31:03
  Speaker 1: murmuring the sacred names of Jesus and Mary, she quietly
• 1:31:07
  Speaker 1: passed away in the presence of such a scene. Our
• 1:31:11
  Speaker 1: thoughts are those of her friend, Father Brute, who reached
• 1:31:15
  Speaker 1: the death bed a few moments after Mother Seatan had expired.
• 1:31:20
  Speaker 1: The next day, he jotted down the following words, O Mother,
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 1: Oh Elizabeth, Oh faith profound, O tender piety, her eminent character,
• 1:31:33
  Speaker 1: her indulgence to others, her charity so careful to spare others,
• 1:31:38
  Speaker 1: her attachment and gratitude to friends, her deep respect for
• 1:31:43
  Speaker 1: the ministers of God and the least things of religion.
• 1:31:47
  Speaker 1: Hearts so loving, so compassionate, so religious, so generous. Excellent Mother,
• 1:31:55
  Speaker 1: we lose you and mourn for you, but you are happy.
• 1:32:00
  Speaker 1: But Mother Seton is not lost to us. She lives
• 1:32:04
  Speaker 1: in the memory of her saintly lives and virtues. She
• 1:32:08
  Speaker 1: lives in her works and in the thousands of her
• 1:32:11
  Speaker 1: daughters who follow her rule and reproduce her virtues. On
• 1:32:16
  Speaker 1: the first centennial of her saintly death, we thank God
• 1:32:19
  Speaker 1: for his gift of Mother Setan and of the American
• 1:32:23
  Speaker 1: Sisters of Charity to the Catholic Church in the United States.
• 1:32:28
  Speaker 1: End of chapter five. End of the First American Sister
• 1:32:33
  Speaker 1: of Charity, Elizabeth Bailey Seton by John Clement Reveale.